Board game apparatus

ABSTRACT

A game board having representations of two celestial bodies such as the earth and the moon on its top surface, and having tokens representing space stations for orbiting the two celestial bodies, as well as tokens simulating spaceships adapted to link up with the space stations and to travel from one celestial body to the other. Rotatable disks carry slugs under the board surface. The tokens are attracted to the slugs by magnetism so as to move with the slugs in orbits around the celestial bodies. The disk associated with the moon is constructed to receive members representing buried treasure.

United States Patent [151 3,658,338 Wheelock 14 1 Apr. 25, 1972 [54]BOARD GAME APPARATUS 2,795,427 6/1957 Sachs ..273/139 x [72] Inventor:Kurt 0. Wheelock, 27580 Evelyn Court, FOREIGN PATENTS QR ppu -n Warren,Mich. 48093 1,526,893 4/1968 France ..273/1 34 1 1 17, 1969 1,229,0053/1960 France ..134/

21 A l.N 858 725 l 1 PP 2 Primary E.raminer-Delbert B. LoweAttorney-Whittem0re, Hulbert & Belknap [52] U.S. Cl ..273/134 AE,46/240, 273/134 AA 1 [51] 1 Int. Cl. ..A63f 3/00 [57] ABSTRACT [58]Field ofSearch ..273/1,130,131,134,135,

. A game board havmg representatlons of two celestial bodies 273/136,139, 46/140, 35/45 such as the earth and the moon on 1ts top surface,and havlng [56] References Cited tokens representing space stations fororbiting the two celest1al bod1es, as well as tokens s1mulat1ngspaceships UNITED STATES PATENTS adapted to link up with the spacestations and to travel from one celestial body to the other. Rotatabledisks carry slugs 3,006,] l 1 10/1961 Koch... ..46/24O X under the boardsurface. The tokens are attracted to the slugs 313771067 4/1968 pro'em"46/240 X by magnetism so as to move with the slugs in orbits around the3,387,393 6/1968 Musser... ..35/4 celestial bodies. The disk associatedwith the moon is con- 2,282,430 5/1942 Sm1th 46/24 x structed to receivemembers representing buried treasure. 2,548,495 4/1951 Robins ..46/240 X2,632,648 3/1953 Neuzerling ..46/240 X 9 Claims, 7 Drawing Figures J l//4 I /4 V 7, I Z6 /02 #4 9/ 5' e 4 r A" a N m; 5 92 8 7 s /0a a 24 76;/Q O zr zz 60 e l s l a AMOVE'AA/PT/IJfiAC'JTAT/O/V u/v/rs 3 0 ,9. /FO/V/MOOM/VO/VT/ORTAZASl/PE 1 7 c. Mar: MOO/V ts/wcz .sr4r/a/v 04 /75 I 660 s .0. mar! row? sPAQmw/ 20 9 72 5224c? ///v/r5 PATENTEDAPR 25 m2.

SHEET 10F 2 K M: w fm Fw Y BOARD GAME APPARATUS SUMMARY CF THE INVENTIONOne object of this invention is to provide a space game having tokensrepresenting space stations and spaceships.

Another object is to provide a space game having means for hiding buriedtreasure on one of the celestial bodies represented on the game board.

Another object is to provide a game board having a rotatable memberprovided with a slug of material beneath the surface of the board, and atoken movable over the surface of the board and attracted by magnetismto the slug so as to move with the slug in a circular path.

Another object is to provide a game board having a representation of acelestial body on its surface, a rotatable member having a slug ofmaterial beneath the upper surface, and a token representing a spaceshipor a space station movable over the surface of the board and attractedby magnetism to the slug so as to move in a circular path with the slugin an orbit around the celestial body.

Another object is to provide a game board having first and secondrotatable members with command indicia associated with the first memberand dependent upon the angular position of the first member to determinethe movement of the second member.

Another object is to provide a game board in which the first member hasan annular series of numbers for determining the increments of rotationto be given to the second member depending upon the angular position ofthe first member.

Another object is to provide a game board having a rotatable memberunder the representation of a celestial body provided with slots forreceiving tokens representing buried treasure, and in which the uppersurface of the board has holes adapted to register with the slots inorder to permit the tokens to be inserted into and withdrawn from theslots.

Another object is to provide a game course comprising a plurality ofplace units over which a token representing a game piece is adapted tomove in sequence, and means for varying the length of the course.

Other objects and features of the invention will become more apparent asthe description proceeds, especially when taken in conjunction with theaccompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a top plan view of a game board constructed in accordance withmy invention.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged detail view of the rotatable member or diskassociated with the moon.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged detail view of the rotatable member or diskassociated with the earth.

FIG. 4 illustrates in perspective tokens representing a space stationand a spaceship.

FIG. 5 shows the two tokens of FIG. 4 in a stacked relationship with thespaceship on top of the space station.

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary sectional view taken on the line 6- 6.in FIG. 1.

FIG. 7 is a fragmentary sectional view taken on the line 7 7 in FIG. 1.

Referring now more particularly to the drawings, the game board isgenerally designated 10 and in this instance comprises a rectangularboard of cardboard or like material which may have a center fold line 12for folding the two halves of the board together when it is not beingused. 14 designates magnetic tokens representing space stations, 16designates magnetic tokens representing spaceships and 18 designatestokens of permeable material representing pieces of treasure.

The upper surface 20 of the game board 10 has indicia representing twocelestial bodies in spaced relation to one another. In this instance thecelestial body 22 is the earth and the celestial body 24 is the moon. Itwill be understood that such representations of the earth and the moonmay be merely two-dimensional pictorial representations not raised abovethe surface 20 of the game board.

There is a circular recess 26 in the undersurface of the board which isconcentric with the earth 22. A flat circular rotatable member or disk28 is disposed in the recess 26 in concentric relation with the earth22. A fastener 30 passing through the center of the earth and throughthe center of the disk 28 supports the disk for rotation in the recess.

The disk 28 has a series of equally spaced holes 32 arranged in a circleconcentric with its center. A person playing the game may insert hisfinger into one of the holes 32 to rotate the disk 28 in the directionof the arrow 34. As seen in FIG. 1, there is a window 36 in the uppersurface of the game board which has an arcuate portion 38 that overliesthe circular series of holes 32 and is of a length equal to the distancebetween the remote edges of any two adjacent holes in the series.Obviously a person may insert his finger through the window into a hole32 and index the disk 28 an increment of rotation equal to the distancebetween the holes 32.

The disk 28 also has an inner series of numbers and an outer series ofnumbers arranged in circles concentric with its axis of rotation. Thenumbers in each of the two series are spaced from one another the sameangular distance as the holes 32. As will be understood from FIG. 1, twonumbers, one in each series of numbers, are visible in a radialextension 40 of the window 36 in any indexed position of rotation of thedisk. There is a command indicia on the surface of the game boardassociated with each series of numbers. Associated with the inner seriesof numbers is the following command indicia C: Move moon space stationunits." Associated with the outer series of numbers is the commandindicia D: Move your spaceship 2 or space units." The command indicia Cand D are shown for convenience in the lower right corner of the board,but in actual practice will be printed in arcs indicated by dotted lines37 and 38 so that the numbers on the disk 28 appear in the blank spaces.

The disk 28 has embedded in it three equally angularly spaced slugs 42located on a circle concentric with the axis of rotation of the disk 28.The disk 28 also has three additional slugs 44 embedded in it in equalangularly spaced relation on a larger circle concentric with the axis ofrotation of the disk 28. The slugs are of a permeable material so as tobe attracted to the magnetic tokens l4 and 16. Actually the slugs couldalso be magnets.

There is a series of dots and ovals 46 spaced equal angular distancesfrom one another in an inner orbit 48 pictorially represented on theupper surface of the game board around the earth 22. The orbit 48overlies and coincides with the circle traced by the slugs 42 carried bythe rotatable disk 28. There is also a series of dots and ovals 50represented pictorially on the upper surface of the game board in equalangularly spaced relation in an outer orbit 52 around the earth. Theorbit 52 overlies and coincides with the circle traced by the slugs 44.The angular distance between the dots and ovals 46 and between the dotsand ovals 50 is equal to the angular distance between holes 32.

The game board has a circular recess 54 in its undersurface beneath themoon 24. A flat circular rotatable member or disk 56 is disposed withinthe recess 54 in concentric relation to the moon 24. A fastener 58passing through the center of the moon and through the center of disk 56supports the disk 56 for rotation on its axis.

The disk 56 has a series of equally angularly spaced holes 60 arrangedin a circle concentric with its axis of rotation. The disk 56 may berotated in the direction of the arrow 62 by the insertion of a fingerinto one of the holes 60. As seen in FIG. 1 there is a window 64 in thetop surface of the game board which has an arcuate portion 66 overlyingthe circle of holes 60. The portion 66 of the window is of a lengthequal to the distance between two adjacent holes 60. A player may inserthis finger through the window into one of the holes 60 and index thedisk 56 an increment of rotation equal to the distance between twoadjacent holes 60.

The disk 56 has three slugs 68 embedded in it in equally angularlyspaced relation on a circle concentric with its axis of rotation. Likeslugs 42 and 44, slugs 68 are of a permeable material so as to beattracted to the magnetic tokens 14 and 16. Actually slugs 68 could alsobe magnets.

The disk 56 has a plurality of elongated radially extending slots ortunnels 71-79 adapted to receive tokens 18 representing buried treasure.The upper surface of the game board has a plurality of holes 81-86through the representation of the moon 24.

The arrangement of tunnels 71-79 and holes 81-86 in the present instanceis such that in certain indexed positions of the disk 56 none of thetunnels registers with any of the holes. However, in the next indexedposition of the disk 56 the holes 82, 84, and 86 register with the innerends of the tunnels 72, 75, and 78. In the next indexed position, theholes 81, 83, and 85 register with the outer ends of tunnels 71, 74, and77 and in the next indexed position the holes 82, 84, and 86 registerwith the inner ends of tunnels 73, 76, and 79. The holes 81-86 are largeenough to permit the tokens 18 representing buried treasure to beinserted into the tunnels in disk 56 and to be withdrawn therefromthrough the holes without interference.

The disk 56 has inner and outer series of numbers equally angularlyspaced from one another and arranged in concentric circles, as shown inFIG. 2. The numbers in each series are spaced from one another angularlythe same distance as the holes 60. As will be understood from aconsideration of FIG. 1, two numbers, one in each series of numbers, arevisible in a radial extension 90 of the window 64, in each indexedposition of the disk 56. There is a command indicia on the surface ofthe game board associated with each series of numbers. Associated withthe inner series of numbers is the following command indicia A: Moveearth space station units. Associated with the outer series of numbersis the command indicia B: If on moon, hunt for treasure time (s). Thecommand indicia A and B are shown for convenience in the lower rightcorner of the board, but in actual practice will be printed in arcsrepresented by dotted lines 87 and 88 so that the numbers on the disk 56appear in the blank spaces.

The top surface 20 of the game board has a series of equally angularlyspaced dots and ovals 92 pictorially represented in a circular orbit 93about the moon. The orbit 93 coincides with and overlies the circletraversed by the slugs 68 upon rotation of the disk 56. The angulardistance between the dots and ovals 92 is equal to the angular distancebetween the holes 60.

A series of dots 100 extend in an S-shaped path from the outer orbit 52around the earth to the orbit 93 around the moon, and a series of dots102 extend in an S-shaped path from the orbit 93 around the moon back tothe outer orbit 52 around the earth. The orbital dots and ovals 46, 50,and 92 may be considered space units over which the space stations andspaceships pass in sequence from one to the next as the game is played.The dots 100 and 102 are also space units which the spaceships move overin sequence from one to another during their travel to and from themoon.

The following rules are suggested for players or astronauts who wish toplay the game.

A. How to Become the Winning Astronaut By traveling to the moon; pickingup one treasure, and returning to earth more times during the game thanany of the other astronauts.

B. How to Prepare for Blast-Off 1. Take one of the space stations 14 andplace it near the earth 22 on the oval marked S. This earth spacestation will be moved by magnetic attraction around the earth in theorbit 52 by a slug 44 when disk 28 is turned. Disk 28 should be moved inthe same direction as the arrow 34 until the earth space station 14 goesaround the earth and once again lands on the same oval S. The spacestation 14 will move from one space unit 50 to the next in sequence eachtime the disk 28 is indexed, and in each indexed position of the disk 28the space station will stop on a space'unit 50. The disk 28 is moved bya finger inserted in a hole 32, and is indexed one increment of rotationby moving the hole 32 from one end of the arcuate portion 38 of window36 to the other.

2. Place the nine moon treasures underneath the moon 24 in the followingway: Look on the moon 24 and pick out the six lunar holes 81-86 wherethe treasures will be buried. After locating the six lunar holes, thedisk 56 is turned in the direction of arrow 62 until no tunnels 71-79appear where the lunar holes are. Then, disk 56 is turned until three ofthe tunnels appear at three lunar holes. One token l8 representingtreasure is placed in each of these holes and should be pushed into thetunnels out of sight with the finger or by gently stroking the moon 24near the hole with a spaceship 16 so that the treasure is magneticallydrawn into the tunnel and away from the hole. The disk 56 is again moveduntil three more tunnels appear at the second set of three holes. Onetreasure is placed in each of these tunnels just as before. The disk isagain moved until three more tunnels appear at the first set of threeholes. One treasure is placed in each of these tunnels. There are ninedifferent tunnels and each now holds one treasure.

3. Another space station 14 is placed near the moon 24 on the ovalmarked 5. This moon space station moves by magnetic attraction aroundthe moon in an orbit 93 by a slug 68 when the disk 56 is moved. Thisdisk 56 is moved in the same direction of the arrow 62 until the moonspace station goes around the moon and once again lands on the same ovalmarked with an S. The space station will move from one space unit 92 tothe next in sequence each time the disk 56 is indexed, and in eachindexed position of the disk 56 the space station will stop on a spaceunit 92. Each astronaut may now pick out a spaceship 16 and blast off.The disk 56 is indexed one increment of rotation at a time by insertinga finger in a hole 60, in the same manner as disk 28.

C. How to Blast-Off Each astronaut waits until it is his turn and thencarries out Space Commands A, B, C, and D. They are printed on the boardon the arcs 37, 38, 87, 88 near the moon 24 and near the earth 22. Thefirst astronauts turn now beings. First Astronaut: Read Space Command Aand index disk 28 and hence the earth space station 14 the number ofspace units shown in the window 36. Each dot or oval is one space unit.Skip Space Command B until on the moon and ready to hunt for treasure.Read Space Command C and index disk 56 and hence the moon space station14 the number of space units shown in the window 64. Read Space CommandD; place spaceship 16 anywhere on earth; and move the spaceship eithertwo space units or the number of space units shown in the window 36.Count the dot nearest the earth as space unit one. First Astronaut: Yourturn is over; however, your spaceship will not stay where it is now. Itwill be attracted by one of the slugs 42 and will move in an orbitaround the earth from one space unit to the next when the space stationand disk 28 move. Second Astronaut: Your turn begins now. Read SpaceCommand A and index the disk 28 and hence the earth space station thenumber of space units shown in the window 36. Skip Space Command B untilon the moon and ready to hunt for treasure. Read Space Commands C and Dand carry them out in that order. Second Astronaut: Your turn is over;however, however, your spaceship will also be attracted by one of theslugs 42 and will move in an orbit around the earth from one space unitto the next when disk 28 and hence the space station moves.

D. How do the Spaceships Get to the Moon? When it is your turn to carryout Space Command D follow the dots 111, 112, and 113 and try to moveyour spaceship from the inner orbit 48 of the earth to its outer orbit52. You can only move your spaceship in the same direction as shown bythe arrow 34. In other words, you cannot move backwards. If yourspaceship has passed the space unit 111 that leads to the outer orbit,then you must go around the earth again until you position yourspaceship so that you will move out on the dots 111, 112, and 113 and onto the outer orbit 52 when it is your turn to move under Space CommandD. When you are in the earths outer orbit 52, link-up with the earthspace station I4; then separate from the space station on your nextturn; and try to position your spaceship to move beyond the outer orbiton Space Command D. If your spaceship has passed space unit 114 thatleads to dots 100, then you must go around again before you can proceedon dots 100. Once you are following the dots 100 leading away from theearth and towards the moon you are on your way to the moon; and you havemade a Trans-lunar Injection.

E. How to Position a Spaceship in Orbit so that It Can Get to the MoonEach time it is your turn, very carefully note where your spaceship isimmediately after you have carried out Space Command D. Has yourspaceship moved to a different part of the orbit or has it ended upwithin one or two space units of where it was the last time you carriedout space Command C? If your spaceship hasnt moved much then you shouldtake the other choice available to you when carrying out your SpaceCommand D. Sometimes you are better off to decide on just moving yourspaceship two space units; at other times, moving your spaceship thenumber of space units shown in the window will move your spaceship outof orbit. There is no set rule to help you decide which Space Command Dto carry out. After a while you will be able to sense what to do.

F. How Does an Astronaut Land on the Moon? By going into lunar orbit;linking-up with the moon space station; separating from the spacestation on his next turn; and positioning his spaceship so that on SpaceCommand D he can move his spaceship from dot 115 to dot 116 closest tothe moon and then on the moon. Of course, if he has orbited past dot115, he must go around again before he can follow dots I and 116 to themoon. The spaceship must always go in the same direction as the arrow62.

0. .After Landing on the Moon, How does this Astronaut Find Treasure?After landing on the moon, the astronaut waits for his next turn beforehunting for treasure. Astronaut on moon: Carry. out Space Command A.Then read Space Command B to find out how many times you can hunt fortreasure. If the number one (1) appears in the window you can hunt fortreasure in one (1) lunar hole. When the number two (2) or three (3)appears in the window hunt for treasure in two (2) or three (3) lunarholes. Most of the time you will be able to see tunnels underneath themoon by looking into the lunar holes. Sometimes, however, no tunnelswill appear and you will not be able to hunt for treasure at all untilit is your next turn. The easiest way to hunt for treasure is to look ina lunar hole to see where the tunnel leads, and stroke the moon near thehole with your spaceship so that the treasure is magnetically drawn outof the tunnel and into the hole where it can be picked up by yourspaceship. You can only carry one treasure at a time on top of yourspaceship.

H. How Does Spaceship Blast Off from the Moon? As soon as you findtreasure carry out Space Command C and then Space Command D. Count thedot 117 nearest the moon as space unit one. Follow the dot 117 back intoorbit around the moon.

.I. How to Get Back to Earth By linking up with the moon space stationin lunar orbit; separating from the space station on your next turn; andpositioning your spaceship in the moons orbit so that you will move fromdot 118 back to earth via space units 102. If you orbit past dot 118,you must go around again before you can proceed from dot 118 and followdots 102 back to earth. You have now made a Trans-earth Injection.

K. How to band on Earth By going into the earths outer orbit; linking upwith the earth space station; separating from the space station on thenext turn; going into earths inner orbit via dots 121 and 122; andmoving from dot 123 in the inner orbit to dot 124 nearest the earth andlanding on earth. Again, if you orbit past dot 121 you must go aroundagain before you can proceed to the inner orbit, and if you orbit pastdot 123 you must go around again before you can land on earth.

L. When Back on Earth what Happens? Take off the treasure from the topof the spaceship and start back for another. Whoever gets the mosttreasures wins. You don't have to use all nine treasures. You can playshorter games by putting seven, five, or even three treasures on themoon.

What I claim as my invention is:

l. A game board having first and second rotatable members adapted to beindexed in increments of rotation, said second member having operatingmeans responsive to rotation thereof, said game board having meansassociated with said first member providing a number station, said firstmember having a series of numbers movable past said number station uponrotation of said first member, and incomplete command indicia forgoverning the indexing of said second member, said command indicia beingprovided on said game board and positioned adjacent said number stationso as to be completed by the number displayed thereat.

2. The structure defined in claim 1, wherein said first member hasoperating means responsive to rotation thereof, said game board hasmeans associated with said second member providing a number station,said second member having a series of numbers movable past saidsecond-mentioned number station upon rotation of said second member, andincomplete command indicia for governing the indexing of said firstmember, said command indicia being provided on said game board andpositioned adjacent said second-mentioned number station so as to becompleted by the number displayed thereat.

3. A game board having an upper surface, a rotatable member beneath saidupper surface having slots adapted to receive game tokens representingburied treasure, for example, and a plurality of holes in said uppersurface, certain holes registering with certain slots in a predeterminedrotative position of said rotatable member to permit said tokens to beinserted into or removed from said slots through said holes, other holesregistering with other slots in another rotative position of saidrotatable member to permit said tokens to be inserted and removed asaforesaid, and in still another rotative position of said rotatablemember, none of said holes and slots being in register.

4. The structure defined in claim 3, wherein said holes are formed in apictorial representation of a celestial body on said upper surface, andtokens simulating space vehicles, said second mentioned tokens beingmagnetically attracted to said first mentioned tokens.

5. A game board having a plurality of space units spaced apart from oneanother over a game course, a token representing a game piece movablefrom space unit to space unit over said course, some of said space unitswithin said course being arranged in a closed loop, a second tokenrepresenting a space station and with which said first-mentioned tokenis adapted to be linked, means for orbiting said second token from spaceunit to space unit within said closed loop, and means for releasablylinking said first-mentioned token to said second token so that saidfirst-mentioned token will orbit with said second token from space unitto space unit within said closed loop, whereby said second token becomesin effect a moving space unit to vary the length of the course traversedby said first-mentioned token.

6. The structure defined in claim 5, said closed loop being circular,said orbiting means comprising a rotatable member beneath said gamecourse rotatable on an axis coinciding with the center of said closedloop, said orbiting means having a slug to which said second-mentionedtoken is magnetically attracted and movable along the path of andbeneath said closed loop upon rotation of said rotatable member.

7. The structure defined in claim 6, including means for indexing saidrotatable member angular distances corresponding to the angular distancebetween the space units.

8. A game board having an upper surface, a representation of a celestialbody on said upper surface, a member rotatable on an axis coincidingwith the center of said body and having beneath said upper surface aseries of angularly spaced slugs arranged in a circle concentric withthe axis of rotation of said member and having a radius greater than theradius of said body, tokens movable over said upper surface andmagnetically attracted to said slugs so as to move in an orbit aroundsaid body upon rotation of said rotatable member, a representation of asecond celestial body on said upper surface spaced from saidfirst-mentioned body, a second member rotatable on an axis coincidingwith the center of the second body and having beneath said upper surfacea second series of angularly spaced slugs arranged in a circleconcentric with the axis of rotation of said second member and having aradius greater than the radius of said second body, second tokensmovable over said upper surface and magnetically attracted to the slugsin the second series so as to move in an orbit around said second bodyupon rotation of said second rotatable member, said board having on itsupper surface means in each orbit representing space units spaced equaldistances from one another, means representing a line of spaced apartspace units connecting said orbits, and means for indexing eachrotatable member increments of rotation equal to the spacing between thespace units in the associated orbit.

9. A game board having an upper surface, a representation of a celestialbody on said upper surface, a member rotatable on an axis coincidingwith the center of the body and having beneath said upper surface aseries of angularly spaced slugs arranged in a circle concentric withthe axis of rotation of said member and having a radius greater than theradius of said body, tokens movable over said upper surface andmagnetically attracted to said slugs so as to move in an orbit aroundsaid body upon rotation of said rotatable member, said board

1. A game board having first and second rotatable members adapted to beindexed in increments of rotation, said second member having operatingmeans responsive to rotation thereof, said game board having meansassociated with said first member providing a number station, said firstmember having a series of numbers movable past said number station uponrotation of said first member, and incomplete command indicia forgoverning the indexing of said second member, said command indicia beingprovided on said game board and positioned adjacent said number stationso as to be completed by the number displayed thereat.
 2. The structuredefined in claim 1, wherein said first member has operating meansresponsive to rotation thereof, said game board has means associatedwith said second member providing a number station, said second memberhaving a series of numbers movable past said second-mentioned numberstation upon rotation of said second member, and incomplete commandindicia for governing the indexing of said first member, said commandindicia being provided on said game board and positioned adjacent saidsecond-mentioned number station so as to be completed by the numberdisplayed thereat.
 3. A game board having an upper surface, a rotatablemember beneath said upper surface having slots adapted to receive gametokens representing buried treasure, for example, and a plurality ofholes in said upper surface, certain holes registering with certainslots in a predetermined rotative position of said rotatable member topermit said tokens to be inserted into or removed from said slotsthrough said holes, other holes registering with other slots in anotherrotative position of said rotatable member to permit said tokens to beinserted and removed as aforesaid, and in still another rotativeposition of said rotatable member, none of said holes and slots being inregister.
 4. The structure defined in claim 3, wherein said holes areformed in a pictorial representation of a celestial body on said uppersurface, and tokens simulating space vehicles, said second mentionedtokens being magnetically attracted to said first mentioned tokens.
 5. Agame board having a plurality of space units spaced apart from oneanother over a game course, a token representing a game piece movablefrom space unit to space unit over said course, some of said space unitswithin said course being arranged in a closed loop, a second tokenrepresenting a space station and with which said first-mentioned tokenis adapted to be linked, means for orbiting said second token from spaceunit to space unit within said closed loop, and means for releasablylinking said first-mentioned token to said second token so that saidfirst-mentioned token will orbit with said second token from space unitto space unit within said closed loop, whereby said second token becomesin effect a moving space unit to vary the length of the course traversedby said first-mentioned token.
 6. The structure defined in claim 5, saidclosed loop being circular, said orbiting means comprising a rotatablemember beneath said game course rotatable on an axis coinciding with thecenter of said closed loop, said orbiting means having a slug to whichsaid second-mentioned token is magnetically attracted and movable alongthe path of and beneath said closed loop upon rotation of said rotatablemember.
 7. The structure defined in claim 6, including means forindexing said rotatable member angular distances corresponding to theangular distance between the space units.
 8. A game board having anupper surface, a representation of a celestial body on said uppersurface, a member rotatable on an axis coinciding with the center ofsaid body and having beneath said upper surface a series of angularlyspaced slugs arranged in a circle concentric with the axis of rotationof said member and having a radius greater than the radius of said body,tokens movable over said upper surface and magnetically attracted tosaid slugs so as to move in an orbit around said body upon rotation ofsaid rotatable member, a representation of a second celestial body onsaid upper surface spaced from said first-mentioned body, a secondmember rotatable on an axis coinciding with the center of the secondbody and having beneath said upper surface a second series of angularlyspaced slugs arranged in a circle concentric with the axis of rotationof said second member and having a radius greater than the radius ofsaid second body, second tokens movable over said upper surface andmagnetically attracted to the slugs in the second series so as to movein an orbit around said second body upon rotation of said secondrotatable member, said board having on its upper surface means in eachorbit representing space units spaced equal distances from one another,means representing a line of spaced apart space units connecting saidorbits, and means for indexing each rotatable member increments ofrotation equal to the spacing between the space units in the associatedorbit.
 9. A game board having an upper surface, a representation of acelestial body on said upper surface, a member rotatable on an axiscoinciding with the center of the body and having beneath said uppersurface a series of angularly spaced slugs arranged in a circleconcentric with the axis of rotation of said member and having a radiusgreater than the radius of said body, tokens movAble over said uppersurface and magnetically attracted to said slugs so as to move in anorbit around said body upon rotation of said rotatable member, saidboard having on its upper surface means in said orbit representing spaceunits spaced equal distances from one another, means for indexing saidrotatable member increments of rotation equal to the spacing betweensaid space units, said indexing means comprising finger holes formed insaid rotatable member in a circle adjacent the periphery thereof, theangular distance between said holes corresponding to the angulardistance between said space units, and a window in said board overlyingthe circle of holes and of a length approximating the distance betweentwo adjacent holes.